To Fancy Is To Bring Ruin
by LadyCerise1891
Summary: Harry was supposed to be enjoying his life now. Finished with Uni and academy training, his only real problem should be how dull actual police work is. Sadly, Hermione has a new bloke and Ginny Weasley, his best mate's baby sister, is just out of reach. Oh, and gate crashing Lavender Brown's party seems to be the only solution he can come up with. Muggle A/U. One-shot.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello, my loves! I've decided to branch out, but only enough to have another narrator for my third person limited style. I hope you enjoy. I'm predicting this story won't stay a one-shot. It was too much fun!

J.K. Rowling owns all the things. Reviews, as always, give me the warm fuzzies. Kisses!

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Harry grabbed Ron's shoulder for the fifth time so far that evening. "Not her. That one's hair is too wavy. You know she stopped using that smoothing whatever-it-was years ago."

Ron relaxed beside him for a moment. He went back to leaning against the ping pong table they were stationed near. He was on edge more than usual, clearly not enjoying the gathering as he would have in other circumstances.

Harry himself wasn't having a grand time, either. Ginny Weasley was just across the den of the house party they were gate crashing, dancing with Dean Thomas. She was right there and all because he'd thought he would have a go at Cho Chang at a New Years  
party, she was there with another bloke. It was effective in sending the very clear message of "not a chance."

Dean pulled her in rather close and said something right in her ear. It was apparently hilarious, cause her flaming hair went flying as she whipped her head around to nod and laugh. Her eyes flashed his way, and with the considerable amount lager he'd  
already downed as a result of her arrival, the thought to lower his gaze didn't even cross his mind.

Ron grunted and moved to go toward the entrance. "Not her." Ron hit his shoulder, making him turn his head from Ginny and actually look where he was pointing. "Oh, right. Nope, that's her."

Hermione was quickly swarmed by Lavender and Pavarti, so they hung back for moment. They surveyed the bodies behind her, attempting to see the bloke she was supposed to be bringing. It was, after all, the only reason Ron had agreed to come along.

They spotted Fred when the girls made no sign of breaking up their interrogation of Hermione and moved through the crowd toward him. He nodded their way when they called his name and jerked his head toward the kitchen. Ron quickened his steps but Harry  
paused. He considered the contents in his cup and looked up to shake his head "no" to the offer. Just as he did his eyes landed on Ginny letting Dean nuzzle her ear.

He gulped down what was left and shoved his way through the sea of bodies. "Fill it." Ron shot him a bewildered look but Fred just nodded and followed his orders as he dumped some concoction into the cup. "What is it?"

"Something George and I came up with. You know, we are the party kings." He poured some into two more cups and took a swift swig after sending them a mocking wink. His face twisted into a grimace only after they had each taken deep gulps of the burning  
mixture. "Has a right kick, doesn't it? Haven't done this one in a while."

The two coughed and Harry's head almost felt asfoggy as if he'd been hitting hard whiskey the last hour and not just lager. He listened to the voice that said being totally trashed wouldn't be the worst idea since he wanted to forget the images  
of Ginny and Dean anyway. He prepared to take another swig before a hand grabbed the red cup out of his grasp.

"Oi!"

Hermione took a sniff of the cup's contents and rolled her eyes. "Fred. Really?"

He laughed out right and stole Ron's cup before the younger man could clear his head enough from his initial drink and stop him. He wagged his eye brows at her and downed the drink as Ron finally had sense to protest. She took a sip from Harry's pilfered  
cup, gagged and dumped it down the sink behind their older friend. Then he saw something weird: Hermione ran her hand over his back.

"Um, 'Moine?" She hummed and raised her brows in question once she took the empty space to his right around the island. "Nothing. I think I want another lager."

She thought for a moment and slid her eyes to Fred. He nodded, eager glint in his eyes and she smirked in a way Harry and never seen before. Harry felt like he was going to throw up and it had nothing to do with the alcohol already taking up space in  
his stomach.

"Ron." He turned to Harry with a distant look in his eyes. "You may wanna have one, too, mate. This night is about to get rather barmy."

Ron shrugged and grabbed the bottle his brother offered him. Fred nodded at someone who was part of the massive see of bodies that was the party. He made his way out of the kitchen, squeezing Hermione's shoulder as he left. She watched him go, absently  
taking a pull of her drink.

"'Moine, we heard a vicious rumour going around the old gossip circuit," he paused to nudge Ron, who was glaring at her from across the island. "We heard you're seeing a new bloke. We also heard that he would be here with you tonight. Which is why we've  
risked Lavender's wrath and gate crashed."

She blushed and tugged her ear. "Oh, yeah. I suppose you're right. I do have a new bloke, so to speak."

Ron sat his bottle down with a white knuckled fist. "So, you brought him to what? Show him off? Best way to get word around to your poor sap of an ex. Have a right laugh at my expense, that's what you're doing!"

Harry gripped his shoulder and shook his head. "No, mate. That's not it. Just drink your beer, yeah?"

He grunted and did as he was told when Hermione had good naturedly aided in getting the bottle off the counter and to his lips. "Oh, Ronald. That's not it at all."

She sighed and took another swig of her own. "I was actually hoping you'd gate crash. This one is different. I'm actually really nervous."

Harry snorted and put his bottle to his lips to cover his smirk. "Yeah. Nervous." He sighed. "New bloke, you say? How new?"

She raised her brow and coughed on her drink. "Oh, really? Is that honestly necessary?"

Harry let her shelve the topic then, both Ron and he following her into the thick of the party. Trying to distract himself, he let her guide the topics of conversation and only intervened when Ron was reminded of why he was frustrated. Ron, for the most  
part, was content with the buddy-like atmosphere of their trio haunting corners and tables.

Fred would pass by with a group of his own friends, having called George and Angelina in as reinforcement Harry guessed, from time to time. He would send Hermione fervent looks and she would shake her head. Angelina engaged her in conversation after a  
bit, allowing Fred to casually slide in next to her and manoeuvre his hand around to graze the one she had behind her back resting on the ping pong table they were once again loitering around.

Harry felt sick, again. "So, Ronniekins, how are you holding up after leaving the academy. I mean how are really doing? Not the rubbish you feed Fred."

Ron sniffed and set his empty bottle next to the few that they had collected over the time they'd been stationed there. "S'alright. The grunt work is dead boring and I'm still helping out doing odd jobs at the shop to keep busy. Other than that I can't  
complain, I guess."

George nodded then tugged his head toward Hermione. "I bet you aren't doing as good as she is, eh? Or do you have yourself a bird you've been hiding."

"He hasn't brought anyone around the flat that I've noticed." Fred waggled his eyebrows suggestively and turned his attention to them in earnest now. "Who do you recon her new beau is, ickle Ronniekins?"

Harry shoved his way through the crowd to get away from the teasing pair. He didn't blame them for having their fun, since Ron was rather thick with that sort of thing. Fred and Hermione weren't even being stealthy, and he still hadn't caught on to them.  
But the harassment at his best friend's expense was almost more than he could bare, even if he was envious of the couples ability to manage some form of stealth.

When he made his way back with fresh drinks for them, he spotted Ginny nearly snogging Dean in a corner. "Shit." He felt the beast that had taken up residence in his head since Ginny had gotten into Uni nearly 6 years prior rustle and come alive. It whispered  
and then roared when he got Fred running his hand over Hermione's back out of Ron's view. "Excellent."

He passed around drinks, staving off the plan his jealous beast was forming. His eyes kept shifting between the different powder kegs prime for blowing up around the room. When Dean was starting to pull Ginny toward the door, he made his decision, no  
matter how utterly mad and ill-advised it was.

He sighed heavily and took a deep pull to finish his drink. "Right, I'm just gonna rip the bandaid off, shall I." He shushed Fred over the chatter and kicked Ron to get his confused brow focussed on him. "Fred and Hermione are shagging. I'm gonna go make  
a pass at your sister. Oi, Ginny!"

The rest of the night was a blur of loud music and yelling. He was sure he wasn't the only one being yelled at and that it wasn't just Ginny yelling at him the whole time. He was aware that that night was all going to add up to one massive headache come  
the next day.

When he did wake up the next morning, Ron was on the couch, looking miserable even in sleep. "Oh, he was not happy with me." Harry turned cautiously to see Hermione leaning against her door jam. "I don't know why I thought any of this could work."

He shrugged, well aware of her concerns. "Yeah. We aren't really good at this whole fancying a Weasley thing., you and me."

She nodded sadly and bit her lip. They were silent for a moment before he signalled her to follow him to the kitchen. She did so with a lowered head, and he knew he had handled things very badly the night before.

"I'm really sorry about outing you. I don't know what I was thinking?" He pulled down cups as she put the kettle on and started some toast. "I think it was that drink that Fred made. It was powerful stuff. That mixed with the lager, mixed with my own  
messed up situation, and I just couldn't keep my head."

She snorted and began frying up eggs. "Felix Felicis. I don't think they actually came up with that one, like he said. I think he sometimes brags for the sake of hearing his own voice and seeing who would believe him. He can be such a prat sometimes."

Harry hummed and got some plates down. Hermione went about making breakfast, as well mixing her pick-me-up tea to help ease the punishment of the night before. She sat the cups down at the table and meted out eggs and toast. He pulled out the jam and  
butter and they sat down to breakfast, giving a pause to the conversation.

"About the whole Fred thing?"

Hermione blushed and sent him a guarded look he hadn't seen since they'd met their first year at Uni. "I don't know what to say. Where to start? I'm being serious here. I don't where you want me to start."

"Okay." He huffed and scratched his head as he thought. "When did you guys start this mess? I mean, why would be nice as well, suppose."

"That is hard to explain. Remember when I was trying to get Ron's stuff back to him? Well, when I was trying to smooth things over between us." Harry shrugged but nodded instead when she glowered at him. "Anyway, it was a little while after he had moved  
into George's old room in the flat above the Twin's shop. I thought, wrong as it turned out, that he would want his things back. So he would feel more comfortable."

"When you got that new mattress and other bedroom stuff? Right. Now I remember."

She sighed but nodded. "Yes, Harry. As I was saying, he told me exactly what he thought of me and my attempts at "winning him back." He wasn't too kind, either. We had one of our worst rows ever. I think I threw that figurine of the owl, that one that  
Sirius had gotten him as a joke. Chucked it right at his head.

"He was almost cruel, and I wasn't much better. Fred heard everything. He was on the balcony when I came out and just stood there, head down. He gave me a hug as I passed and I left."

Harry nodded, but he couldn't stop the wave of confusion that washed over his face. "Though I don't doubt your story telling capabilities, I think you went off track a bit. That sounded like an end to a story, not a beginning?"

She sniffed a bit and played with her napkin. "I, uh, avoided the place pretty steadily. I mean, avoiding Ron isn't hard. You two are both just out of the academy and in the force now, you know what your routine is like. I'm always busy with my continued  
law studies, since I finished. But, I used to go there often to chat with them and there's this lovely cafe down the road. But, I stopped. You see, there's another reason I ended things with Ron."

"You fancied Fred." She jumped and whirled around to take in the red head with wide eyes. "The thought occurred to me last night about the third time I'd gotten up to unload my guts in the John. I don't like it, but I can't stop it. So, yeah."

She looked like she wanted to hug him but held herself back and simply got him a cup of tea before sitting back down to her own. "Well, no? Not consciously, any way, and after much consideration I don't think it was more than an after thought. No, I didn't  
fancy Fred, but he and George made me realise I fancied the idea of us and not really you."

"Explain."

"So, you remember that mess with Angelina our third year at Uni? I was oddly Fred's confidant and it made me re-think our whole mess, Ron. I'm not going to reiterate the notion that you felt just as off kilter about things as I did. My ears are still  
ringing from the last time." The dark look that passed over his face before disappearing proved that was wise. "I just realised we weren't really working well as a couple. We were great as friends, but really Ron."

He gulped down some tea, and grunted out, "back to Fred."

"So, when I stopped going to the cafe, he started bringing my favourites for us to share when I was on campus. It was just after we all finished at the academy. He made me laugh and distracted me enough to keep the studies from getting to be too much.  
With you two off and in the force, I just get so swamped with my books and homework."

"You were the one who thought environmental law was a good field of study. We never told you law studies were a good idea." Harry shook his head and flicked his fork in her direction. "Nope. We even told you not to do it, I think. Told you you would end  
up in parliament someday if you kept up with it."

Ron's face screwed up as if he'd tasted something gross. "Can't think of anything worse, mate. Not one thing."

She whacked him in the arm with a huff. "Honestly! Right, so, he brought me things, chatted me up, one thing led to another, we had a drunken shag on the table and that was that."

Both boys shot from their seats with equal looks of horror on their faces. Harry's eyes shifted to Ron who looked like he was about to be sick. They both cried out in outrage and began hurling abuse at her.

"I'm joking." She was laughing, tears in her eyes and waved them off. "It was in Harry's room. We got confused on the way to mine. Kidding! The couch."

Ron was red everywhere skin was visible. "Alright, I'm done. There was no drunken snagging. Swear on Crookshanks life."

Harry considered her for a moment, taking in that she loved her ridiculously ugly cat, and sat back down gingerly. "You making jokes about shagging. What's Fred done to you?"

"Actually, he rather nervously asked me to leave his own party early, before I could even get there actually. That one that he threw 3 months ago? We never even got there, considering he showed up on our door step. Went to France for the weekend. It was  
fantastically out of the blue and I was very at odds with myself the whole time. It was the best holiday date I'd been on. Sorry, Ron."

Harry watched Ron shake his head in denial. "He was there, though. We chatted with him."

"Nope. His ear was missing now that I'm looking back. We were plastered just enough to not notice. Blimey, we didn't even care. You were still grumpy as all hell that you were single and I was right pissed at Dean."

"Oh yeah. But why?"

"Doesn't matter." Hermione snorted and Ron turned his confused gaze to her, oblivious to Harry's uncomfortable blush. "Any way, we were talking to George all night. Never even saw Fred. Well, damn, 'Moine."

Ron scratched his neck. "Right. Well, that's that then." He got up and made himself a plate and sat down to shovel a forkful in his mouth. "What was that mess with Dean, yeah?"

Just as he was going to answer the front door was opened and closed rather loudly. He turned in his chair, his pathetic explanation like lead on his tongue. There was Ginny, the object of his affection and best mates kid sister. She was beautiful rage  
fire personified as she crossed her arms and levelled her flashing eyes on him.

"Why the hell did you kiss me last night?"

Ron wretched and dropped his fork. "I'm never coming back here, again."


	2. Chapter 2

Harry was miserable. He sprawled on the floor in front of his couch, clad merely in boxers and an old Weasley Christmas jumper. Hermione, equally burdened, was herself strewn across the couch on her stomach, Crookshanks perched on her back.

"Why? Just why?" She random slapped his head with her hand that was dangling over the edge of the cushions. "Why did she banish me?"

Harry shook his head and then considered that she wasn't able to see him. "You? You I understand. You've been sneaking around with her son and broke her other son's heart. Why did she banish me? I thought she would be over the moon about me and Ginny."

Hermione huffed and raised herself on her elbows to grace him with a withered glare. "There is no "Ginny and you," you git. There's Ginny and Dean. There's been Ginny and Michael. Hell, there was even Ginny and Blaise. Never has there been a Ginny and Harry."

Harry shot up into a sitting position, horror paling his features. "She went with Blaise? Blaise Zabini. When?"

Hermione shrugged and resumed her position of staring at the couch back. "Few years back. They made a habit of snogging at parties and gave dating a go for about 2 months. It clearly didn't take, so I wouldn't give it much thought."

Harry was giving it thought, though. In fact, a good deal of his mental faculties were focusing on ways he could injure the man in question. He was a police officer now. He could cover it up fairly easy.

"You can't kill every man she's ever fancied, Harry." She blindly swung out and managed to strike his shoulder. "Even you can't manage to hide that many bodies. You have to consider celebrities."

He huffed and fell back to lay on his back, again. "You were her first crush, though. So calm down princess, all is right in Harry world."

"I can't believe Mrs. Weasley banished us on Easter weekend. I was looking forward to her meat pies." His stomach clenched in agreement. "And her homemade sweets."

"This was the first Weasley Holiday I'd been invited to since Ron and I split after graduation." He heard the mourning in her voice and felt bad for forgetting that Mrs. Weasley had been stubborn in allowing his friend into her house over the last few years. "I was looking forward to it, as well."

She heaved herself up, exaggerating the effort and made Harry chuckle. "I'm going to pack."

"What?" He struggled to his feet as well and followed to her room. "Packing for what?"

"I'm not gonna sit around here being miserable. I've been told ever so politely not to come to the Weasley house for holiday, again. My parents are in New Zealand and I don't want to go there, nor do I have the time or the funds. That leaves the open invitation to visit Shiloh."

"Shiloh Darren, the lush? You're going to spend your holiday with her?" He considered the possibility and weighed the options of being miserable at the flat or being miserable on a beach in the south of France. "Let me get a pack together."

"She's not a lush, Harry. She's American, and drinks far less than even you, mister." She popped her head into his room to shoot him a stern look. "She's seeing a new bloke, according to her last e-mail. So, be nice."

Harry shook his head at Hermione's protectiveness over the girl. "She's seeing a Frenchman? Makes sense that she would need a language barrier to make that work." He raised his hands in defence when she angled a shoe menacingly his way. "Okay, okay. Don't take the Micky out me. I'm just getting it all out now before we get there."

She remained in the door way, though, suddenly looking anxious. "Can we not take the tube? I think I would like to take your motorcycle."

Harry straightened from his packing. "Yeah. What's brought this on? You hate that bike, especially after Sirius." He cut himself off, stamping down that line of thought before it could bring the gloomy mood. "I mean, it's no trouble. If you really want to."

"Alright." She breathed in deep through her nose and let it out in one big huff. "Right. Yes. Okay, so, will you be ready soon?"

"Just finishing up. 15?"

She nodded and disappeared, again. "Oh, I sent a text to Ginny and Fred. Just so they would know what's going on. Can you get Ron? I don't have his new mobile yet."

Harry nodded and retrieved his phone from his pocket. Flipping it open, he saw a few unopened texts from from Ginny and one from Ron. Feeling his breath catch, he very nearly opened the messages from her. Swallowing thickly he made himself ignore them to answer Ron.

"Let her sweat a bit, maybe." He read over Ron's lament about him not being there to see Ginny row with Fluer. "Someone's feeling keyed up then? Good."

He typed a reply and then sent a quick run down of their rough plan of action. Ron was quick to send his own dark jab at Hermione's friend. Harry snorted and snapped the phone shut.

"Yeah, we're heading out now-ish." Hermione passed his door, phone wedged between her head and shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah. See you tonight, love."

Harry shook his head. "Poor Gin. She thinks she's your best mate. How will the kids take it?"

Hermione shoved him out the door with a dull laugh, and locked the door behind him. She was hesitant when it came to climbing onto the black monster, a sixteenth birthday gift from his late godfather. He'd attempted to teach her when they were kids, but it had left a bad taste in her mouth. He knew where her fear was coming from, having ridden in the ambulance with her.

"We can take the tube. Or rent a car? You know I'm careful. Especially since, well, yeah." She shook her head, set her shoulders and climbed on. "Alright, so, hold on tight."

She nodded and secured her helmet. Hands shaking, they interlocked around his midsection and she squeezed him tight. He reassured her once more and kicked the bike to life.

He heard her squeal as they pulled off and couldn't help chuckling. The ride was nice, and he revelled in the feeling like flying that bloomed in his chest. Hermione even began looking around, removing her head from its hiding space against his back. They stopped a few times for petrol and food, other than that it was straight through.

When they came up on the coast Hermione began pointing and shouting directions. They were quickly pulling into the neat gravel drive outside a quaint cottage. There was a nice foot path that led to the beach and it had a wrap around porch.

"It's nice." She snickered at the disbelief that sounded in his voice. "Yes, I'm eating my words, alright. She has a nice house."

The front door burst open and a giggling little mess came rushing toward Hermione. Hermione hoisted the girl onto her hip and kissed her cheek lovingly. Harry pat the small girl on the back before having his hand grabbed the girls tiny, paint splattered one.

"Bloody hell, she's big now." He nodded toward the blonde that was waiting in the door way, an infant against her hip. "Oh, and another one."

Hermione shushed him and passed her burden to him. "Hey, 'Loh! And this must be little Tabby." She took the baby and giggled a little as she was accosted by tiny hands on her face. "Where's this bloke I heard about? Harry doesn't think he exists."

"Nope! I actually said it was possible since there would be a language barrier." He let the squirming creature in his arms down and hugged Shiloh. "Seriously, though, he's a fabrication innit he?"

"Nah. He's in town running errands. We're out of almost everything. Kendra here thought it would be fun to open the fridge and leave it open." She grabbed her daughter's arm, threw her other arm around Hermione's shoulder and led them in. "He should be back soon. And jokes on you, Harry. Francis is American."

He watched as the menacing scar that marred her otherwise pretty face became more prominent as her smile slipped under his gaze. "How did everything go? 'Mione just sniffles and changes the subject."

Shiloh shrugged and absently touched her youngest child. "Well enough. He's locked up for a five year term. But he's a manipulative ass and will probably be out on parol before long. Either way, he has to go to therapy for what it's worth."

He nodded and let Hermione lead him to the spare bedroom. It had two twin beds and windows took up half the walls and wrapped around the room. They were open and the breeze was refreshing.

Their weekend was more fun than he had anticipated. Kendra reminded him of his own godson, Teddy. Shiloh's new bloke was quick to smile and give a witty response to her more vicious sarcastic attacks. He was good with the girls, too.

The holiday drew to a close rather quickly. It was easy to just slip into life at the cabin. He didn't think he would mind coming back, some day, just to get away. He could imagine a possible future of Ginny playing with children on the beach as he watched. It was something he immediately wanted, desperately.

He was sad to see their departure time come upon them, as Francis and he enjoyed cold beers while the girls braved the beach on the last day. "How do you handle her barriers?"

Francis shot him a concerned look. "Why?"

"I have this girl. Been mad about her for a while, but she's the kid sister of my best mate." He ran a hand through his hair. "I pushed her away too much and now I don't want to anymore. I can't. But-."

The older man nodded, a wide grin on his tanned face. "She's a feisty one, yeah? Balls, man." He let out a bark of a laugh and rubbed his scruff thoughtfully. "Well, just keep showing her it's different now. Constancy and time. That's all you got on your side, buddy."

Harry considered that as they rode back to London the following morning. Hermione hid her face for a marginally less time span than the ride down. She even whooped excitedly a few times when they swerved between cars quickly to pass slower drivers and change lanes.

Ron was having a beer on their couch when they finally made their way through the front door. "Oi, bout time you got back. How was it? She hit on you, didn't she."

"Nah. She only hits on married men." Harry couldn't help himself and Hermione hit him with her pack as she shoved passed him into the flat. "Actually, it was pretty good. Francis is a decent bloke. The girls are rather cute."

"Girls? Two now, then. Hell." Ron smiled, but a shadow flitted over his face. "How's she healing? It's been a while, sure, but she was pretty roughed up."

"She's on the mend." Hermione held up a disposable Harry had somehow forgotten she'd bought at a shop on the way down. "Got plenty of snaps. You can flip through when I get them developed at Creevey's"

"I'm knackered, but also hungry." Harry threw his bag to the side and pointed at Ron. "Leaking Cauldron? They have decent chips and sandwiches."

"Oh, I'll join you." Hermione returned from depositing her things in her room. "I'm starving."

Ron finished his drink and followed them to the pub across the street. They ordered a round and some chips as they waited on sandwiches. Hermione spent a few minutes answering texts, since their signal had been spotty while at the cottage. Harry had managed his on the way down to eat.

Hermione huffed when her phone almost immediately buzzed once she'd set it on the table. "Harry, have you heard from Ginny lately?" She raised her brow in his direction and her eye twitched when it buzzed insistently against her elbow. "Well? Oh, shut up, Ron!"

He was chuckling, face slightly red from containing himself. "Yeah, Harry. Heard from my sis?"

Harry felt proud of himself when he answered, "she sent me more than a few texts. I have opened none of them. She said she wanted me to keep my distance, rather loudly actually. So, I am giving her what she wants."

Hermione hit him repeated on his arm. "Ow. Hermione, what?" She then began digging his phone from his front pocket. "Hey, whatcha? Stop that."

She grumbled and randomly called him a git from time to time as she clicked through his unopened texts. "'Mione, stop it. Give me my mobile."

She slapped his hand away and sent Ron a glare as his chuckling turned into near hysterics. "I'm fixing your stupidity. Honestly, Harry. How did you ever get any girl? You can be so thick sometimes."

He sputtered in shock as she thrust the phone against his chest. "I do fine thanks! Gin will come round. Butt out, yeah?" His phone trilled in his hand and he took a quick glance at the front screen to see a new text from Ginny had just come through. "What did you do?"

"I fixed your blunder, you impossible prat." She shoved a chip in her mouth and tossed another one at Ron who managed to catch it his mouth between random laughter fits. "You're meeting her for coffee tomorrow. You're welcome."

"I'm doing what?"

Harry was still feeling bitter toward Hermione the next morning as they walked down the street toward the cafe where he was meeting Ginny. They were a bit early since he wanted to see her coming and mentally prepare. He stood with Hermione as she ordered drinks and muffins for her and Fred. She'd resumed going round the shop after coming clean to Ron about her affair with his brother.

"Calm down." She took her change from cashier and shoved him over to the pick up station, since his eyes were focused on the street outside. "You've been friends for years. This will be fine."

"What if things had been like this between you and Ron? Or with Fred?" She closed her mouth, looking scolded. "Yeah. I don't feel like you did with Viktor. This isn't a fleeting fancy. Stop laughing."

She giggled and hid her smile behind a hand. "I'm sorry. "Fleeting Fancy?"

"Oh, shut up."

She stepped forward then to pick up her order. When she returned to his side he nodded toward a table near the side entrance. She shuffled behind him and nudged him with her hip once he was settled.

"You'll do fine." She beamed down at him. "You're bloody Harry Potter! You're made of tougher stuff than saps who use terms like "fleeting fancy." Just be honest."

She gave him a jovial farewell and he watched her go through the window. She practically skipped across the street and up to Fred, who was making his way down from the flat above the shop. He took the drink carrier, giving her a kiss and passing off the front door key so she could lead them into the shop itself.

"Yeah. They're disgusting." He was startled by Ginny's sudden appearance as nearly fell into the seat across from him. "I had a chat with him this morning. The boy is utterly smitten and it's nauseating. So, order yet?"


End file.
